


The Party

by exclamation



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Christmas, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mistletoe, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 02:23:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17153516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exclamation/pseuds/exclamation
Summary: Derek tries to ignore Christmas, wanting nothing more than to shut himself away from the world for the day until it's all over and the memories of his family are gone. But when he's invited to share Christmas with the Sheriff and Stiles, he can't say no.





	The Party

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas. Have a bit of Christmas fluff. 
> 
> I'm being quite vague in this one as to timings and who is in the pack. You can treat this as a post-series fic or as an everyone lives AU, it's entirely up to your interpretation.

Derek’s life history had drilled into him the lesson that nothing good came of a cop showing up at his door. Cops showed up to try and take him from his sister because social services thought she was too young to be his legal guardian. Cops showed up to arrest him for his sister’s murder or to tell him someone was hurt. Nothing good came from a cop standing at his door. 

Now it was Sheriff Stilinski, standing at the door of the apartment Derek had owned for two days, looking serious, and Derek’s mind instantly leapt to the only possible reason Stilinski would be here. 

“Has something happened to Stiles?” Derek asked. It had to be something supernatural, or the sheriff wouldn’t have come himself. What new threat could be here? 

“No, nothing like that,” Stilinski said. “Stiles is fine.” 

“Oh.” Derek couldn’t think of anything else to say to that. His whole body sagged with relief. His heart climbed from his throat back into its proper place. “Then what can I do for you, Sheriff?” 

He hoped he wasn’t here to arrest him again. 

“I wanted to invite you to Christmas dinner with me and Stiles.” 

“What?” 

“It’s not right that you’re all alone on Christmas Day. Come join us.” 

“I wouldn’t want to intrude.” Derek knew that the invitation came from a good place, but he usually tried to pretend that Christmas Day wasn’t happening. It was easier that way. This time of year had always been really special for the family, and without them, things were difficult. It was less painful to shut himself in a room with Chinese take-out and a stack of DVDs, ignoring the rest of the world until the day was past. 

“It’s no intrusion. We don’t do anything special and we’ll be glad to have you there.” 

“I’m sure Stiles doesn’t want me getting in the way of quality, family time.” 

“Are you kidding? Stiles is the one who suggested this. Insisted even. He was very determined that you should be there and you know he doesn’t take no for an answer. So you’ll be there. One o’clock.” 

It wasn’t phrased as a question, but an order. 

“Yes, sir,” Derek said, knowing that if he tried to get out of this, Stiles would probably ruin his own Christmas by insisting on coming to find him. He could go and face this for an hour or so. 

“Merry Christmas, son,” the sheriff said, waving as he walked away. 

***

Derek showed up at the Stilinski house, which was decorated with more enthusiasm than style, twinkling lights and lopsided stars and what appeared to be a reindeer being strangled by a string of fairy lights. Derek braced himself for an onslaught of Christmas cheer and got a tighter grip on the bottle he was holding. Sheriff Stilinski hadn’t told him to bring anything, but he hadn’t felt he could show up empty handed after they’d made this invitation in an attempt to be kind. 

He knocked once on the door, hearing the notes of Christmas music on the other side before stumbling footsteps approached and the door was flung open. 

“Merry Christmas,” Stiles announced, grinning. He was wearing a headband with a piece of plastic mistletoe sticking out from it. 

“Seriously?” Derek said, trying to hide how much that ridiculous piece of headgear amused him. Only Stiles would think to wear something like that. 

“You never know who you’re going to meet under the mistletoe.” Stiles’ expression of innocence would have been more convincing if he hadn’t been the one to invite Derek here. 

“Mistletoe is poisonous to werewolves,” Derek said. “A person might think you were trying to frighten them off from kissing you.” 

Stiles snatched the headband off so fast that Derek couldn’t help smiling. He stepped aside to let Derek in without insisting on a kiss. He waved Derek through to the dining room, where the music was playing loudly enough that he didn’t notice the other heartbeats until he had stepped inside. 

“Happy birthday!” a chorus of voices greeted him. 

There was a banner on the wall reading ‘Happy Birthday Derek’. There were party hats and streamers. And there was his pack, standing around the table, waiting for him, even though it was Christmas Day and they should be with their own families. Derek almost felt like crying. 

He’d never had a birthday party on his actual birthday. When he’d been younger, he’d always had celebrations a few days to one side or the other so that friends from school could attend. Aside from a birthday cake after Christmas dinner, there had never been an actual celebration for him. 

This was... this was more than he could have expected or imagined. He never would have guessed that this was what Stiles had planned, nor that he’d be able to talk everyone into it. The sheriff was there, and Melissa, and the teenagers of the pack. His new family, wanting to spend this day with him. 

“You OK in there?” Stiles asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve kind of frozen.” 

Derek turned and pulled Stiles into a hug. Stiles had to be the one who’d put this together for him, who’d known what he was missing even when he hadn’t known himself. Stiles was always the one who figured things out and he’d figured out that Derek had needed precisely this to fill the emptiness the season always brought. 

“Well this is new,” Stiles said, and patted Derek lightly on the back. 

“Thank you.” Derek let Stiles go and turned to the others, “Thank you.” 

***

They did have a Christmas dinner, but they also had birthday cake and a piñata. There were presents and candy and Stiles switched out the music and insisted on having dancing. Derek tried to lurk at the side of the room at that point, but Stiles would have none of it. He grabbed Derek’s hand to drag him into the living room floor. 

Derek moved his arms and stepped from side to side a bit in a movement that he hoped resembled dancing. At least he couldn’t look much worse than Stiles, who flailed and spun and appeared to be dancing to three different beats at once, none of which was whatever was playing on the stereo. 

Then someone switched out the track and a slow dance began to play. Derek found himself grabbed once again, Stiles putting his hands on him. Derek froze, uncertain of how to respond to this. Was this one of Stiles’ jokes? Was he just messing around? Should Derek smile and go with this and then laugh about it afterwards? 

Or did Stiles want something more? Did Stiles expect something of Derek? A relationship? A one night stand as a birthday present? 

Derek had no idea how he should proceed at this point. His relationships mostly involved being used and manipulated and then nearly killed. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with Stiles. What was he supposed to do next? 

Scott answered that question by announcing, “You’re under the mistletoe.” 

He was holding Stiles’ ridiculous headband in the air over Stiles and Derek’s heads. 

Stiles laughed and said, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” 

But there was something in the way he said it, in the forced cheerfulness, in the way his heartrate sped up, that suggested that statement was almost a lie. Stiles wanted Derek to do it. 

Derek leaned forward and brushed his lips against Stiles’, just for a moment, feeling the rush of desire to do more warring with the fact that Stiles’ father was right on the other side of the room. 

“Thank you for my birthday,” Derek said quietly. 

“No problem. You deserve to have something nice for once.” 

And the thing that made Derek’s heart beat faster was that Stiles really meant it. Stiles thought Derek deserved a chance to be happy. For once, Derek could almost believe it too, so he leaned forward once again and kissed Stiles full on the lips.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Tumblr](http://jessicameats.tumblr.com/) or on my main [writing blog](http://plot-twister.co.uk). I also, as of a few days ago, have a [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/jessicameats) account. That's a bit quiet at the moment so I'm looking for people to follow. Let me know if you're on there.


End file.
